Congregational Openness Leads to Greater Diversity
April 2, 2007
Rae Ann DeVargas is a longtime Unitarian Universalist (UU) who also loves her Hispanic and Roman Catholic heritage. For years she'd thought about how nice it would be if she could share some of that heritage with the members of her church, All Souls UU Church in Kansas City, MO (517 members).Her minister, the Rev. Jim Eller, heard that she wanted to present the Celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a commemoration of the appearance of the Virgin Mary to a Mexican man in 1531, and he encouraged her to do it.
That's how on Sunday morning, December 3, All Souls was transformed by two presentations of the Celebration of Our Lady, one of the most important days of the year to many Roman Catholics in North America and elsewhere. The services were complete with mariachis, dancers, and drumming. "The church was packed," said DeVargas. "The reception was very positive." The services included the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and a prayer written by farmworker activist Cesar Chavez.
Taking part in the service was the Rev. Patricia Jimenez, a Unitarian Universalist (UU) community minister from Minneapolis and the chair of Latino/Latina UU Networking Association (LUUNA).
Jimenez would like to see more such celebrations by UU congregations. That would go a long way, she said, toward making people of different cultures feel welcome in our midst and would broaden our own horizons.
"There will be some, in many cultures, who will respond to our message," says Jimenez. "We need to be asking the question of who is in the room with us." She adds: "There may be people who are made uncomfortable by things we do. Some might feel excluded by the readings we select or the music we sing. Be open to change. When you choose a piece of music or a reading think about doing some education around it."
"Get to know people," she said. "Ask people, respectfully, about themselves. These conversations have to take place in every single committee meeting, every staff meeting, and in worship. We need to remind ourselves that there are differences among us." She noted that at times, if we are intentional about making our congregations multicultural, we need to be willing to hear Christian language, especially around holidays or celebrations.
The UUs of Clearwater, FL, a congregation of 338 members, puts a lot of effort into being welcoming to everyone. The Rev. Abhi Janamanchi estimates at least 10 percent of the congregation is of color. He attributes that to the following factors: the congregation's participation in antiracism and antioppression programs like the UUA's Journey Toward Wholeness, its intentionality about including people of color in all aspects of congregational life, and the congregation's visibility in the community in support of social justice for farm workers and others.
Janamanchi, who is of Indian descent, says it helps that visitors can see that he is a person of color who is comfortable in his religion. "And it is helpful that members are not afraid to make mistakes," he says. "There have been situations when individuals without realizing it have made comments that were perceived as inappropriate or racist. Rather than take umbrage people have sat down and talked it through. We seem to be developing a permission-giving culture here."
Resources
Find resources for congregations wanting to engage in antiracist, antioppression, and multicultural endeavors at UUA.org in the Leaders Library.
More information is at the website for UU Allies for Racial Equity.
Materials used in the Kansas City service are available from Jane Gilbreath: abkwitch @ gmailcom. Diverse and Revolutionary UU Multicultural Ministries (DRUUMM), is a resource for people of color. UUs for Jewish Awareness can offer advice about ways of being inclusive.
For more information contact interconnections @ uua.org.
Last updated on Monday, July 30, 2007.
